Chapter 2
Azra'il returned to the Order and was summoned by Abhay to come before the Council; he came before the council with a blank expression and an open mind. The council was flooded with voices until Azra'il entered, then it became a sea of silence; Abhay was the one to break the silence.
"Azra'il, you have been called before this council; do you know why?"
Azra'il remained silent; he had his suspicions, but he'd rather not expose them, for fear of them not knowing; Abhay soon resumed speaking.
"You have been brought before this council for potentially exposing the Order, how do you plea?"
Azra'il tilted his head up, towards the entire council as he took a deep breath and answered.
"Guilty of all charges."
The whole room became an ocean of sound and noise. Most members were skeptical of the fact that Azra'il would even be charged with endangering the Order, let alone admit doing it. Abhay was quick to silence the council, but not quickly enough. One of the other council members finally decided to be heard.
"How dare you endanger the exposure of our Order, have you not learned your place, assassin?"
Azra'il merely glared at the council member, and then looked at Abhay; Abhay nodded and Azra'il bowed his head slightly. Before any of the council members could tell what was going on, Azra'il was already on top of the council member that spoke ill of him and his Hidden Blade was impaling the man's throat. Azra'il retracted his blade and returned to the center of the room and the council was in shock and uproar; Abhay silenced them all quickly.
"I believe Azra'il showed you a valuable lesson; it does not matter what you say, he is superior to all of you and answers only to me. He will do what he wishes as long as it does not interfere with my orders."
The council members became silent and their looks turned from Azra'il to Abhay and back.
"Azra'il killed that man because I allowed him, and I will allow him to kill all of you if you try to demoralize him."
The council members could only bow their heads and remain silent. Abhay looked at Azra'il, who bowed his head and kneeled.
"Azra'il, because this is your first time to ALMOST breaking a rule, you will be let off easy this time, but don't allow it to happen again!"
Azra'il stood, bowed his head and left. He returned to his quarters and reached under his bed for something. It was a blanket, the blanket that he was found with so many years ago. Azra'il sniffed the blanket, trying to find any familiar scents; none of the scents he picked up he ever smelled in this country. He quickly hid the blanket and prepared for his next mission, whatever it was.